Holding an
offender responsible necessarily includes demanding that she respond as only
moral agents can: by re-evaluating her behavior. If the punishment meted out
makes reflective response to it impossible, then it is not a demand for response
as a moral agent.

Birth
defects do not respect ethnic, religious or socioeconomic backgrounds. The
first and most basic step in research leading to their prevention is accurate
knowledge of how often, when and where they occur. Since the existing system
for collecting such data, even if it were working perfectly, would still miss
two out of every three babies born with defects, it seems wise to modify it.

Conservatives argue that
the real problem is not poverty but dependency while liberals respond that the
problem underlying poverty is not dependency but a malfunctioning economic system.
Both repeat their outworn positions instead of listening to each other.

The author reviews four books concerned with the suburbs and the city: While Christians may disagree over specific policy recommendations, they must not live as if physical location and faith have nothing to do with each other. For Christians, place matters.

Deep in the Christian tradition is the understanding that human communities exist to promote the "good life" for all, not just a few, but the past planning of cities has has restricted the fulfillment of this ideal.

While the Industrial Revolution
brought about efficiency and inexpensive goods, it also caused work to lose
its dignity and interest, forced workers into below subsistence wages, polluted
the environment, and destroyed community. The new Global Economy increases
both the benefits and the problems. The author suggests we must have global
government to regulate global capital.

Cobb examines the dynamics of growth and concludes that
growth is quite different from sustaining the welfare of all citizens in a society.
Instead of breaking down local communities in the interest of capital and labor
mobility, the alternative would be to work for the economic health of local
communities. The United States should recognize the importance of developing
an economic policy designed to improve the economic well-being of its own people
rather than to support its transnational corporations in their global competition
with those of other great economic blocks.

Because
churches have built-in constituencies and a moral stance, they can be effective
in fighting gambling. But when politicians raise the issue of funding
for schools, someone in the legislature introduces a gambling bill.

Lotteries may undercut the ethic of work and achievement, replacing it with an ethic of luck. The government’s has abdicated its responsibility for the care and well-being of people; it is an assault upon the poor and the uninformed by governments that are being irresponsibly financed. It is, therefore, a movement that deserves to be opposed by churches and those who care about the future of our people.

Difficult ethical issues arise when
research is funded by or conducted in a foreign country whose medical and moral
standards are different from those of the country whence the money or personnel
come. Is the research to the advantage of those being tested? Or are they
simply guinea pigs for a "more advanced" culture?

Those who take the time to peruse The Founder’s Constitution will find two things far more significant than transitory euphoria: they will understand why the constitution period was the most compelling episode of political reasoning in our history; and they will realize how clearly a discussion of "first principles" is necessary for rescuing American politics from it’s parlous state today.

In the realm of public-policy discussion, the Bible has no place. As American Christians, we are privileged to participate in a government of, by and for the people. We must not abuse this privilege by either ignoring our responsibility or by thinking we can and should use it as an opportunity to establish God’s kingdom here and now.

Good cities are an essential component of the good life for human beings, who are made in the image of God. Post-World War II suburban sprawl is the antithesis of good urbanism. To the extent that we Christians simply accept the premises of suburban culture, we compromise both the substance of our faith and the effectiveness of our evangelical effort.

We can now deliver the good of health care
to all our people, and this good will help secure and enhance the life, liberty
and welfare that is our nation’s promise to its citizens. It is time to make
that promise to each other.

A review of two books on public housing. At a time of huge government surpluses, universal shelter, like universal health care, is on the agenda of few politicians, who argue instead about how many billions of dollars to return to wealthy taxpayers..

Deliberate planning and massive human effort have created the present system of globalization. This system exploits the poor and enriches the wealthy. It destroys human communities and devastates the natural world. The author suggests other solutions.

December 1998
marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nation's adoption of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While abundant, dramatic violations
of human rights still dominate the headlines, the last half-century has seen
explosive growth in human rights consciousness and activism and in international
humans rights laws and institutions. The United States is one of a dwindling
number of nations unenthusiastic about the application of world law when applied
to its own conduct,but for reasons supplied by the author, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights is still a tool for people of conscience to use in the struggle
for a world more respectful of human dignity.

The author makes the case for and against "free trade." Since World Trade places its faith not in God but in the market, Christians may suspect that idolatry is at work. This is a call for the world to serve Mammon or wealth rather than God.